Sleep disordered breathing

Sometimes we feel under the weather but don’t necessarily know what kind of sickness we might have. We might have a sore throat, an earache, or a headache, and these signs might actually signal an ear, nose, and throat problem. Common ENT problems include dizziness, hearing loss, gastric reflux, snoring, and sore throats. Sometimes when we are sick, we might not even know that it can be tied to an ENT problem! Sinus infections, breathing difficulties, and other ear noses and throat problems in children and adolescents are usually easily treatable, and all it takes is going to your doctor. Here are some signs to look for when it comes to common ENT problems.

Cholesteatoma and other chronic ear problems

Signs of a chronic ear infection include a feeling of pressure in your ear, mild ear pain that never goes away, a low-grade fever, fluid visibly draining from your ear, hearing loss, and trouble sleeping. Five out of six children will have an ear infection by their third birthday, making it a pretty common illness in children. Most of the time ear infections will go away with antibiotics, but if it lingers, it could be a chronic problem.

Gastric reflux

Signs of this include hoarseness, cough, throat clearing, difficulty swallowing, and heartburn. A doctor can perform a throat exam to see if there is any swelling caused by gastric reflux.

Sleep apnea

Signs of sleep apnea include snoring, gasping while you sleep, being cranky, feeling sleepy, or having brain fog throughout the day. Snoring is not always a bad sign, however. Snoring is very common in children, and can be found in about 12% of children in the general population. Children with enlarged tonsils were almost 4 times more likely to experience symptoms of sleep-disordered breathing than children with normal-sized tonsils.

A sore throat

Signs of a severe sore throat include a severe sore throat, difficulty swallowing, joint pain, ache, a fever, or blood in the saliva. For a mild sore throat, you can drink more fluids, gargle with warm salt water, or take over the counter pain relievers like Advil or Tylenol.

If you notice any of these symptoms, you should head to your doctor ASAP for treatment.